Arts workers least likely to be able to remortgage

A survey on mortgages has found arts and culture employees are the least likely to be able to switch their current mortgage deal.

Price comparison service Uswitch.com conducted a mortgage statistics report in light of rising interest rates in the UK, surveying adults with mortgages working across 12 industries.

Arts and culture workers were the least likely to be able to change their current deal, with 91% saying they were unable to do so, despite being up-to-date with their mortgage payments.

In comparison, almost half (49%) of those working in the legal sector were able to switch deals.

According to mortgage expert at Uswitch.com Claire Flynn, anyone nearing the end of a current mortgage deal could consider looking at remortgaging options in order to pay lower rates of interest.

“If you’re on a variable-rate at the moment, switching to a fixed-rate deal means your repayments will remain the same for the duration of the deal and won’t be affected by interest rate changes,” she added.

Almost three-quarters (74%) of arts workers said they were unable to switch because their current deal hadn’t ended, which would mean larger repayments for the 24% who said they were not on a fixed-rate deal if interest rates rise. Low wages were found to be preventing a further 17% of arts and culture workers from remortgaging.

USwitch’s research also found mortgage holders working in arts and culture spend on average 35% of their monthly wage on mortgage payments, which ranked sixth out of the twelve sectors studied.

But arts and culture employees were one of the least likely to say they find it difficult to pay their mortgage, with 38% saying they somewhat struggle to afford their payments. Only workers in the manufacturing and utilities and education industries reported a lower percentage, at 36%.

The HR sector reported the highest percentage, with 76% of workers struggling with their payments.